A FRIGHTFUL EXPLOSION

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 248, 10 March 1913, Page 5

A FRIGHTFUL EXPLOSION

i 300 TONS OF DYNAMITE. ! THREE VESSELS DESTROYED. 80 KILLED; SO SERIOUSLY INJURED. By Cable—Press Association—Copyright. . Received 9, 7.10 p.m. t New York, March 7. "Fifty were killed and eighty seriously injured at Baltimore by an explosion of 300 tons of dynamite aboard the English steamer Alumchine. Details show that the Ahimchine and a Scow, lying alongside, were blown to \ pieces. The tug Atlantic, which went to the assistance of those struggling in the water, caught fire and .sank. Another steamer, the da-on, which sought to lend assistance, was riddled by pieces of wreckage which were hurled in mid-air. The cause of the disaster is unknown. Twenty bodies have been recovered in an unrecognisable condition. A number of the crew of the Atlantic were killed bv living debris, which included pieces of red hot iron. The tug Britannia ran a line aboard the Atlantic, hoping to tow her into shallow water, but the vessel sank, drowning the majority of those who liad escaped the previous liail of debris. Captain Vandyke, of the Atlantic, perished on deck after a gallant effort to rescue the Alumchine's crew. Mangled bodies are floating everywhere "in the sea. The shock was felt thirty miles away. Hundreds of windbws were wrecked. The Lower House in Delaware State rocked, and the members thought an earthquake had occurred. ' A FOREMAN ARRESTED. . _ CASUAL PROCEEDINGS. Received 10, 12.55 a.m. New York, March 9. "Bomhart, the foreman in charge of a gang of lightermen, has been arrested In connection with the Baltimore ex- : plosion. Lightermen accuse Bomhart of sticking his hook in the dynamite, thus causing i the explosion. He had previously com- * plained that the men were idling, and , - sought to show them how to work.